Squaring up to the regulatory challenge

The garages which carry out annual vehicle safety inspections constituted the most important class of insurance agent in Macedonia as they controlled the bulk of the key motor third party liability (MTPL) account. In 2007, however, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for these test stations to distribute MTPL policies unless space were provided on their premises for agents of all licensed motor insurers and for the six local brokers. This threw the market into chaos. There is presently considerable debate on the subject and the position is unlikely to become clear until the new independent supervisory body, created in 2007 but not yet constituted, actively interferes in the matter

The Macedonian insurance market at the end of 2007 comprised 12 companies. Of these, there were two life companies, nine were purely non-life, and one company, QBE Makedonija, was essentially a non-life writer and licensed as such, but had a declining amount of life business in run-off.